ALSO has launched a cloud-focused business operation in the US in a move top analyst Steve Brazier has labelled “brave and exciting”.
Europe’s largest homegrown distributor yesterday announced that ALSO Cloud US has commenced its operations with its first customers.
The move mimics the model it followed when it set up ALSO Cloud UK in February 2023.
The $1.5tn US ICT market is served by over 100,000 channel partners, ALSO said as it sought to contextualise the rationale for its transatlantic expansion.
“In our expansion into the US market we are making additional footprint in our ecosystem,” said Jan Bogdanovich, Managing Director Commercial Business of ALSO Holding AG.
Precursor to US M&A?
In a possible clue to its longer-term intentions, the headline of ALSO’s press release labelled its cloud launch the “first step” in its US plans.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Steve Brazier, who founded Canalys and is now a Fellow at its parent company Informa, also viewed the move as a precursor to potential M&A.
“This is an excellent, brave and exciting move for ALSO,” he said.
“It gives them a low-cost entry to the US, based on their existing, popular software platform. It allows them to set up all the legal entities, recruit some local staff and get to know the North American executives at the leading vendors.
“Then, after a couple of years, an acquisition might come onto the radar.
“It is not easy for a European company to enter the US, but Computacenter has shown that it’s possible.”
ALSO maintained revenues at around €11bn in 2024, generating record EBITDA of between €230m and €240m.
Its planned acquisition of the UK’s largest distributor, Westcoast, would make it Europe’s clear number two distributor behind only TD Synnex.
